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This study attempted to clarify to what degree assurances of confidentiality and interviewer behavior protective of confidentiality impacted an interviewee’s trust of an interviewer and subsequent willingness to self-disclose. Ninety-six undergraduates were asked interview questions. Male and female subjects were divided into four conditions: confidentiality statement/protective behavior, confidentiality statement/nonprotective behavior, neutral statement/protective behavior, and neutral statement/nonprotective behavior. The Intended Self-Disclosure Questionnaire and Counselor Rating Form were used to measure self-disclosure and trustworthiness levels. Results did not support the main hypothesis that protective behavior would have a more significant impact on self-disclosure and trustworthiness than verbal assurances of confidentiality. However, assurances of confidentiality did lead to significantly higher trust levels. Responses to a post-questionnaire revealed over reporting of confidentiality instructions. Implications for therapy and future research are discussed.

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I examine the spillover effects of the 2013 revision to the U.K. audit report standard, the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 700 (UK and Ireland), from firms subject to the regulation (i.e., Premium companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)), to firms not subject to it (i.e., those listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the LSE). The new regulation requires increased disclosures in three areas: audit risks, materiality and the scope of the audit. I hypothesize that application of the new rules to regulated clients will result in changes in audit styles and auditor mindsets that would be transferred to other (non-regulated) clients. If so, such effect of the new regulation on audit outcomes – specifically improvement in audit quality - for regulated clients will spill over to non-regulated clients. Because I expect the auditor to be the conduit for the spillover, I examine the difference in changes in audit quality for two groups: (1) AIM clients in audit offices that audit both Premium and AIM clients and (2) AIM clients in audit offices that audit only AIM clients. The results show that AIM firms in the first group (i.e., AIM clients of audit offices that also have Premium clients) experience lower absolute discretionary accruals, reduced propensity to have small positive earnings, and are more likely to receive a modified opinion under the new regulation. However, there is no change in audit quality for the AIM client firms of audit offices with only non-regulated (AIM) clients. These results are consistent with audit quality benefits spilling over from regulated clients to AIM clients, brought about by auditor-level changes. Further analyses indicate that the audit quality spillovers are more prominent for AIM clients with greater audit complexity, AIM clients of large audit offices, and London audit offices. / Business Administration/Accounting

Intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors often consult with their informal network members (i.e., friends and family) about the violence they experience- far more often than they do with formal resources. These informal network members (INMs) are therefore uniquely situated to help survivors, particularly by helping them understand the violence as an undeserved problem and by providing them with tangible aid and information to exit and stay free of violent relationships. The extent to which and through what means INMs could help, however, remains under-studied. This study therefore sought to understand how disclosure to informal network members (INMs) and their specific reactions to that disclosure shape survivors’ initial experiences with IPV and their IPV victimization in subsequent relationships. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate quantitative analyses (linear, logistic, and negative binomial regression) were conducted on survey responses from a sample of 200 female survivors between the ages of 18 and 30 who had been out of their initial violent relationships for at least 6 months. These analyses included the use of six independent variables (four measures of disclosure, one measure of reactions to disclosure that labeled the violence as problematic, and one measure of reactions to disclosure that provided information or tangible support), three dependent variables (months between violence onset and relationship end, frequency of violence during exposure to violence, and subsequent violent relationships), and ten covariates. Increases in disclosure frequency were significantly related to decreases in the frequency of violence across three different measures of disclosure in the multivariate models. Although the bivariate findings suggested that disclosure is related to time between violence onset and the end of the relationship, the multivariate results did not find a significant relationship with this variable, nor between disclosure and subsequent violent relationships. The results were more nuanced when examining the specifics of the INM reactions to those disclosures in the multivariate models. Each increase in the frequency of problem definition reactions was associated with a decrease in the frequency of violence experienced. Increasing frequencies in urging the survivor to talk to a lawyer or police and in providing or helping her get information were related to a decrease in the time between violence onset and relationship end. Increases in the frequency of urging the survivor to talk to a lawyer or police were related to an increase in the frequency of violence, whereas increases in the frequency of offering a place to stay was related to a decrease in the frequency of violence. Lastly, an increase in the frequency of information and tangible support reactions as a whole was significantly related to a decrease in the odds of experiencing subsequent relationship violence. These findings add nuance to existing models and frameworks of IPV help-seeking, motivate and serve as a basis for further research into how disclosure to INMs can shape varying outcomes for IPV survivors, and add to a body of literature that can ultimately be used to inform not only the practices of INMs, but also more formal policies and practices to enable informal systems to better aid IPV survivors. Regarding implications for theories of help-seeking and disclosure, the findings confirm that although disclosure itself is important, what happens during disclosure is just as, if not more, important when shaping outcomes for survivors. Further, because of the varied ways in which the disclosure process might shape survivor outcomes as evidenced by these findings, conceptual models and frameworks outlining the relationships between disclosure and survivor outcomes need to be refined to better capture these complexities. In terms of future research, there is much left to explore regarding the disclosure process, including for which types of survivors certain reactions work best, which types of INMs are most likely to use which reactions, and how combinations of reactions interact in influencing survivor outcomes. Once corroborated by other studies, these findings can be used to inform policy and programming to enable INMs to react effectively to disclosure so as to ensure greater justice for survivors. Any awareness-raising policies or programs designed to shape INM practice would need to be evaluated, creating a variety of evaluative research opportunities. Because of the high prevalence of IPV among young adult women in the United States and around the world, the results of this study fit well into the contemporary global discussion of how to reduce and prevent survivor experiences with IPV. / Criminal Justice

Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cases of criminal charges laid against those who do not disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners. The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure has generated an intense debate which is the object of this analysis. Using a social constructionist framework, particularly the work of Donileen Loseke, a leading social problems theorist, and documentary data drawn primarily from the internet, my goal is to shed light on the debate. More specifically, I am concerned with definitional contests or competing constructions inherent in the debate. The dissertation is organized around three papers. The first paper explores how the condition of HIV itself is socially constructed in the debate. Claims-makers who support criminal sanctions construct the disease as deadly and devastating, while claims-makers who oppose criminalization construct HIV as chronic and manageable. The second paper explores the rhetorical strategies used by those who support criminalization to construct non-disclosers as villains. I coined the term techniques of vilification to capture these strategies. The third paper examines the rhetorical strategies used by those who oppose criminalization to neutralize the label of victim for partners of non-disclosers. As a whole, the dissertation contributes to a better understanding of social problems claims-making processes, particularly around the construction of conditions and people. The dissertation also makes contributions to ongoing discussions in the sociology of health and illness, and victimology. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis investigates the debate around the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure with an emphasis on the Canadian context. Adopting a social constructionist approach, particularly as it has been used in the sociological study of social problems, and building on the work of social problems theorist Donileen Loseke, the thesis explores three themes: 1) how claims-makers understand HIV as a condition based on whether they support or oppose criminalization, 2) how claims-makers who support criminalization vilify those who do not disclose their HIV-positive status, and 3) how claims-makers who oppose criminalization work to downplay claims to victimhood by partners of non-disclosers. This work contributes to our understanding of the definitional contests underlying the debate. More broadly, it contributes to our understanding of social problems claims-making processes.